Playing Pokémon
So you want to RP as a pokémon? That's awesome~! (For a primarily-Pokémon-based roleplay room, we don't actually have a lot of those). The following is a brief listing of the most important points to keep in mind when creating a pokémon character in the Hedgelands setting. * Pokémon are individuals and are not wholly bound by their Dex entries. ** Pokémon have distinct personalties - their Natures, as it were - and not all members of a species are going to behave in an identical fashion. A Calm Gyarados or Beedrill? Why not? (Calm by beedrill or gyarados standards, to be fair). Just because the Pokedex, or common fandom stereotypes, says that a pokémon species typically behaves in a certain way, doesn't mean that you have to follow this to the letter. It's common for those playing pokémon to acknowledge the standard species behaviors but not allow themselves to be wholly bound by them, such as the "Calm...for a beedrill," example above. This allows for a great deal of variety even among members of the same species, and makes each 'mon feel like the individual that they very much are. * Related to Dex entries, a pokémon's biological capabilities and its Battle aptitude are not the same thing. ** For anyone who's ever wondered why Pidgeot is said in the Dex to fly at Mach 2, yet has base 100 speed (which places it on par with a Jynx), ''or how Machamp, whose four arms are rippling with muscle and can stop an oncoming train with a single one of them, has lower base Attack than a bunch of possessed seaweed wrapped around an anchor - '''this' is why. First off, the Dex is likely full of hyperbole in the first place, and it's up to the individual player how literally they want to take some of its facts (or "facts", if you're so inclined) into account for their character. But even if you don't quite accept a Mach 2 pidgeot or a train-derailing machamp, a great deal is made of these species' speed and strength, respectively, whereas a similar emphasis isn't ''placed on pokemon like Jynx and Dhelmise, despite being equally as capable, or even superior. So, why is that? The contradiction is actually pretty easy to explain - the only thing that Battle numbers represent, such as Attack and Speed base values, are a pokemon's speed and attacking strength ''in a Battle situation. ''Speed does not indicate how quickly a pokemon can move - see as another example a pikachu's ability to run circles around a raichu, despite the latter having higher base Speed - but rather, how quickly it can ''Attack. ''A pikachu may be much more agile on its paws than a raichu, but the raichu can Attack significantly more quickly than its unevolved counterpart. And likewise, a pidgeot and a jynx are both equally as fast at firing Attacks, but the pidgeot can fly much more quickly than a jynx can move. And with Attack, it merely measures the power behind a pokémon's Physically-aligned Moves, not their actual, biological strength. A machamp's rumored ability to derail a train with a single arm won't actually make its Wake-Up Slap any stronger than the move's Base Power, and their Attack power, allows for. Dhelmise can simply execute its Physical Moves just that little bit better, just that little bit more powerfully, than a machamp can, and ''that ''is what is reflected in its one point of base Attack advantage. * '''When writing pokémon owned by humans - pokéballs are ''not ''mind control. A captured 'mon retains free will. Most of them would simply be pragmatic about being owned by humans, even cold and uncaring ones.' ** In the world of Hedge, a captured pokémon is not ''a brainwashed slave at the unthinking command of its human, corrupted by their pokeball into a battle robot. Pokeballs have no capability to brainwash a pokemon at all. What they ''are ''much more similar to is actually a leash - a device to restrain and control the movement of one's 'mon, not to choke all the free will out of the poor critters. In the larger Pokemon World of which the Hedgelands is a part, kind and understanding Trainers who love their pokemon like friends and partners are the ''exception, not the rule. Most pokemon, as a result, are in the hands of Trainers who do not love them, who view them as tools and a means to an end; for these Trainers, pokemon are disposable. The attitude of many wild pokemon towards the idea of being captured, or those already in captivity, is therefore usually one of simple pragmatism - these pokemon do not mind being caught, even by humans like these, because it is a more secure existence than surviving amid nature. As long as you please the human, you get your three squares, you get a place to sleep, and you get the opportunity to grow stronger in a way the wild cannot provide. Getting caught in the first place meant that I was too weak for freedom, anyhow - if I were strong or smart enough to hold my own out there, I wouldn't have '''been' captured.'' Of course, not all wild 'mon think in these sorts of ways - pokemon are individuals, after all, and it is up to you what sort of attitude your character would value. * Pokemon bred in captivity often have much the same attitude. ** Many 'mon bred in captivity have cruel lives ahead of them - wrenched from their parents before hatching, and, for the crime of having the wrong Nature or Ability or imperfect IVs, they are often unloaded onto Wonder Trade to bounce around from Trainer to Trainer, released while too young to defend themselves and usually meeting a quick end, or stuffed in a storage system forever to rot. The 'lucky' ones, the ones with the right ablities, the right Natures, and the right IVs, battle like any other 'mon for their unloving Trainers, viewing them as their caretakers in similar pragmatic fashion. They know no other world than trying to please their owners. Again, of course, pokemon are individuals, so your results may vary~ * Human/Pokémon Communication: How It Works in Hedge ** Can My Pokémon Character Speak a Human Language/Potentially Learn to Speak One? Yes, but it comes with a tradeoff. A pokémon who attempts to become more like a human becomes a lot less like a pokemon. From the moment a pokémon speaks their first full sentence in a human language with the complete understanding of what it is that they're saying (simple parroting will not cause this effect, nor will isolated single words), they become permanently ''unable to learn new Moves, or to grow as a result of Battle. For some species, this also results in an inability to evolve, as they will no longer gain "experience". Speaking like a human is a skill few pokemon would desire - it's the rare 'mon who actually seeks it out, and the rarer still who actually succeeds in ever doing so - but there will inevitably be some out there who will wish for it, no matter the cost. Some species would have greater aptitude for it than others - those who are depicted to canonically have the trait of mimicking human speech, such as chatot (of course), oranguru and mimikyu, are already halflway there - but ''any pokémon that can vocalize is capable of potentially learning to speak a human language. ** Can My Trainer Have A Special Ability to Understand Pokémon? Yes, although "understand" is not usually the correct word. In the Pokémon World, anything with a soul - this include humans, pokémon, the 'unseen ones' (the Pokemon World's long-implied supernatural fringe, which is very much active in Monté; this includes entities such as literal ghosts, living objects, and soul-consuming blights known as 'fairies' Missingno., among other sorts of creatures that go bump in the night), and even plants - ''can potentially be born 'sensitive.' Of the three distinct classes, or Prongs, of supernatural ability that exist in the Pokémon World - the Empaths, the Aura-users, and the Psychics - the latter is the closest to truly ''having a conversation ''with your pokémon, as a human Psychic could use telepathy and tap into their pokémon's thoughts. Empaths, by contrast, do not read minds, but rather ''emotions. ''One can 'read' the hearts of their pokémon to tell how they're feeling, and share their own feelings back with their Partners in turn. This is a form of communication, but it is a wordless one and experienced via emotions alone. Lastly, Aura-Users can use their hyperintuition and Aura-sight to detect even subtle shifts in mood; one who's talented enough in this could even be mistaken for an Empath themselves. This, however, is the least "communicative" of the three Prongs. And of course, the ''pokémon ''could be the one that has the supernatural talent that allows for this sort of communication, rather than the Trainer. ** ''Do translator devices exist? ''Yes, and they are known as In-Coms. However, In-Com are ''highly ''illegal pieces of tech and are only sold on the black market, and the wise Trainer uses them only while in private. They are difficult to get a hold of, but not impossible. * '''Please remember that pokémon are ''not humans!' ** Pokémon do not comprehend finance, they do not build human-like structures, and they have no reason to follow human cultural norms, such as ideas about gender (male gardevoir/lopunny/etc would be unlikely to think of themselves as "looking like females", for example) or food (they're not usually going to have many moral qualms about killing and eating each other, but of course, there are always exceptions to generalized rules). Pokemon do not read or write (with the possiblity of ''very ''rare exceptions),'' they don't usually wear clothes unless a human dressed them up or they're of a species that naturally wears them, and they don't comprehend human technology. This isn't to say that pokemon are not sapient - they are - and they are as capable of feeling as any human. But they are not intelligent in the same way that humans are intelligent; there's a reason humans are the ones holding the Ball. And while an alakazam or a metagross might be able to run incredible calculations in an instant that no human is capable of, they would struggle with abstractifying solutions to their problems, something humans pull off with ease. * Does this mean I can't form a Rescue Team/Exploration Team/a Guild/etc in the Hedgelands? ** It means exactly that. PMD is a seperate universe with seperate rules, and things work very differently there compared to the standard Pokémon World. You can do PMD roleplay, but it would be considered part of its own continunity rather than canon to the main campaign. * So c''an ''I play a pokémon with human-level capabilities in the main campaign? ** You can, if...''they're the product of mad science, ala Mewtwo; they're actually from another dimension, one where pokémon naturally have human intellect; or they actually '''are' a human, stuck in the body of a pokemon. However, as far as the world at large is concerned, a talking pokemon is still a pokemon, and a pokemon with human intellect is still a pokemon, too (except in that last example, where they're of course actually a human, but this is otherwise true). Talking, and having human-level capabilities, will not cause a pokemon to be treated as anything other than a pokémon by society at large. A human-like pokemon can't have a job or own property, and won't be treated as a human's equal by the larger world; human intellect doesn't come with human rights. * What about anthropomorphic pokémon, with humanoid bodies? Can I play one? ''' ** An organization known as Dusk - an group that could be roughly thought of as being Monté's resident "Team" - has dabbled in making these for themselves. Dusk's creations are often made via human gene-splicing and usually possess human souls (souls being a very real thing in the Pokemon World), and they cannot be considered "pokemon" in the truest sense for that reason, they're technically more like very funny-looking humans. These "Dusk monstrosities" are known to the residents of the Hedgelands, but most won't treat them as anything other than monsters (the guy who owns the local Wendy's is pretty cool about them, though :eyes: ). Anthopmorphic pokemon who are ''not ''the product of Dusk, or another group's, mad science would have to be from alternate dimensions. * '''What about fakemon? ** Fakemon are allowed, provided they come from notable and popular fan projects that have some degree of quality control to them (no terrible recolors from some high schooler's obscure first ROM hack or anything like that ...Perri's making a joke at her own expense here). The accomanying fan Regions from these games are often accepted as part of Hedge's larger Pokemon World, likewise. We have several Trainers who come from fan Regions, such as John and Hirohito, and they are accompanied by Fakemon from their native land. * What about hybrids? ** Yes, if they're the product of mad science. But simple Pokémon Breeding will never, ever ''result in a hybrid; such things work in Hedge the same way they do as in the games - offspring are always the same species as their mother. If you want to play a naturally-occuring hybrid, they'd have to be from another world altogether. * '''What about...animals? Like cows and stuff.' ** They don't exist, not even tiny insects. Pokemon eat each other and people eat pokemon. No one in the Hedge world dances around this fact, it's just how the world works. Category:Meta